Artificial intelligence-based automatic assessment of lower limb torsion on MRI

Schock J, Truhn D, Nuernberger D, Conrad S, Huppertz MS, Keil S, Kuhl C, Merhof D, Nebelung S (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Scientific Reports Nature Publishing Group: Open Access Journals - Option B

Book Volume: 11

Article Number: 23244

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02708-y

Abstract

Abnormal torsion of the lower limbs may adversely affect joint health. This study developed and validated a deep learning-based method for automatic measurement of femoral and tibial torsion on MRI. Axial T2-weighted sequences acquired of the hips, knees, and ankles of 93 patients (mean age, 13 ± 5 years; 52 males) were included and allocated to training (n = 60), validation (n = 9), and test sets (n = 24). A U-net convolutional neural network was trained to segment both femur and tibia, identify osseous anatomic landmarks, define pertinent reference lines, and quantify femoral and tibial torsion. Manual measurements by two radiologists provided the reference standard. Inter-reader comparisons were performed using repeated-measures ANOVA, Pearson’s r, and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Mean Sørensen-Dice coefficients for segmentation accuracy ranged between 0.89 and 0.93 and erroneous segmentations were scarce. Ranges of torsion as measured by both readers and the algorithm on the same axial image were 15.8°–18.0° (femur) and 33.9°–35.2° (tibia). Correlation coefficients (ranges,.968 ≤ r ≤.984 [femur];.867 ≤ r ≤.904 [tibia]) and ICCs (ranges,.963 ≤ ICC ≤.974 [femur];.867 ≤ ICC ≤.894 [tibia]) indicated excellent inter-reader agreement. Algorithm-based analysis was faster than manual analysis (7 vs 207 vs 230 s, p <.001). In conclusion, fully automatic measurement of torsional alignment is accurate, reliable, and sufficiently fast for clinical workflows.

Involved external institutions

Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Aachen (UKA) DE Germany (DE) Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH) Aachen DE Germany (DE) Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Schock, J., Truhn, D., Nuernberger, D., Conrad, S., Huppertz, M.S., Keil, S.,... Nebelung, S. (2021). Artificial intelligence-based automatic assessment of lower limb torsion on MRI. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02708-y

MLA:

Schock, Justus, et al. "Artificial intelligence-based automatic assessment of lower limb torsion on MRI." Scientific Reports 11.1 (2021).

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